Joan Doran Hedrick (born May 1, 1944) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer of Harriet Beecher Stowe and

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

Early life and career

Hedrick was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, to Paul Thomas Doran and Jane Connorton Doran. She earned an A.B. degree from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

in 1966, and a Ph.D. from Brown University in 1974. Her Ph.D. dissertation at Brown was titled "The True American: Henry Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, 'Prufrock', and Others". She taught at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in Middletown, Connecticut from 1972 through 1980 and in 1980 began teaching at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford, Connecticut.

Works

In 1982, Hedrick's first book, ''Solitary Comrade: Jack London and His Work'', was published by the

University of North Carolina Press The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the As ...

. Her book ''Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life'' was published in 1994 by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. The book received favorable reviews from ''The New York Times'' and ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''.

References

External links

Faculty page at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
* Living people 1944 births 21st-century American historians Historians of the United States Brown University alumni Vassar College alumni Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty Wesleyan University faculty Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners {{US-historian-stub